Tag Archives: Easter Island

In 2004, a group of friends invented a concept called couch-surfing. When I embarked on this new form of travel – it changed my world.

Everybody has a goal when it comes to travel – a special place in particular they absolutely have to see. For me, my goal was to see the incredible migration of the Christmas Island Red Crabs.

Each year millions of these large crustaceans migrate in a mass spectacle of heaving red shells, carpeting the beaches on a mission to release their eggs into the sea.

Remotely positioned off the coast of Indonesia and way out in the Indian Ocean, getting to Christmas Island is a challenge in itself. My first two hour flight from Singapore to this isolated volcanic landmass was aborted on final approach due to weather conditions. It was another six hours before I finally arrived on the island that was to be “home” for the next two weeks.

Finding somewhere to stay had been equally problematic.

Accommodation choices on Christmas Island are few and my limited budget didn’t exactly cater for a selection of luxurious hotels.

Fortunately, I remembered a website I had heard mentioned by fellow travellers. “Couchsurfing” was about to change forever the way I would travel and experience the world as I pursued my “100 goals” challenge.

The couchsurfing organization was created in 2004 by a group of friends in Iceland. They came up with the idea ………..